Marketing Mix Strategies used by lodges and hotels during the COVID-19 pandemic era in Masvingo Province, Zimbabwe

Abstract

The study investigated the marketing mix strategies used by lodges and hotels during the COVID 19 pandemic in Masvingo province, Zimbabwe. The study contributes to an in-depth understanding of how the lodges and hotels survived during the COVID 19 pandemic. The literature on this area is still limited and this study sought to add knowledge on the marketing mix strategies used by the lodges and hotels. The study adopted a quantitative descriptive research approach in which a structured self-administered questionnaire was used as the data collection instrument. A sample of 50 respondents was used. The seven marketing mix strategies were the variables and each variable had four measurement items with five-point Likert scale responses ranging from strongly agree to strongly disagree. An SPSS was used for data analysis and measures of central tendency (the means) and measures of variability (standard deviations) were used to present the results. The results indicate that the lodges and hotels in Masvingo province employed all the seven marketing strategies, albeit, with varying levels of application. Price, promotion, process physical evidence, and people were the most used strategies by lodges and hotels during the COVID-19 pandemic in Masvingo province. Product was the least used strategy during the COVID 19 pandemic. In conclusion, marketing mix strategies are handy in mitigating and surviving the devastating effects of the COVID 19 pandemic.